STOCKCHASE

(A Top Pick Feb 8/11. Up 34.91%.) Yield is very attractive. With condo prices, particularly in the big markets like Calgary Vancouver and Toronto, going up so much, rental properties are going to be in higher demand. Stock is pretty expensive right now so only buy on dips.

2012-01-31

HOLD

22.350

Jeffrey F. Olin

Very high quality name in the apartment space in Canada with a disproportionate amount of properties and cash flow in the greater Toronto area. Extremely well-managed. 80% payout ratio. 4.8% dividend yield.

2011-12-21

PAST TOP PICK

21.070

(A Top Pick March 11/11. Up 18.75%.) Still likes.

2011-12-02

BUY

20.570

Apartments, mainly in Ontario. Just produced some pretty good numbers recently. One of the problems in Ontario, particularly Toronto, is rent control. Pretty good management.

2011-11-16

TOP PICK

20.560

Very good REIT that owns thousands of apartment units. Working very hard on increasing its energy efficiency and are saving lots of money. Discipline on the price they pay for acquisitions. Will likely be able to increase their 5.3% distribution.

2011-11-10

BUY

20.150

Apartment REIT. Excellent. Yield of 5.3%. Very good sector.

2011-10-18

PAST TOP PICK

20.030

(A Top Pick July 30/10. Up 41.45%.) Still a buy. Interest sensitive and these types of stocks will be hurt when interest rates go down.

2011-08-22

HOLD

19.250

He prefers it materially below $19. Good quality name.

2011-08-04

BUY

19.270

Jeffrey F. Olin

A good name, to let you sleep at night. Across Canada with a disproportional amount of quality buildings in Toronto. Reliable high quality name. If looking for yield it's a good one.

2011-06-21

PAST TOP PICK

19.350

(Top Pick Jul 30/10, Up 34.24% Total Return) Still holds it, great stock. He is overweight income oriented right now. People are buying these sorts of stocks for their safety.

2011-06-07

Comment

18.680

Apartment REIT with exposure to Montreal and Toronto, which have rent controls. Historically hasn’t been a big fan of this one but are warming to the name because the distributions payout ratio has declined below 100% and the quality in the portfolio is improving. Got hit this year with utility costs, HST and property taxes. Wants to see how this filters through on cash flow generation. Good quality core name.

2011-04-20

WEAK BUY

18.920

Wouldn’t look for a dividend increase. This one has generally been a favourite recently. 6% yield. They changed their focus and their financial person which is positive, but they are in Ontario with has rent controls. Doesn’t expect a lot of increases in valuation until June.

2011-03-22

TOP PICK

18.460

Pays a nice little yield. It’s a nice time to buy this now. $17.50 stop loss. Likes the yield.

2011-03-11

TOP PICK

17.790

Apartment REIT. Changes in the mortgage market and higher mortgage rates will make it much more difficult for 1st time buyers. It could also displace some homeowners. Rents have been soft because of condo fees being competitive with rents. 6.18% yield.

2011-02-08

BUY

17.950

Jeffrey F. Olin

Exclusive in the apartment sector. Highest Quality apartments. Exposure in Toronto. Low risk. Have been repositioning this REIT to be a long-term performer. It is a bit of a laggard.

2011-01-18

DON'T BUY

17.290

Ben Cheng

Very large apartment REIT. Has performed very well over the last year but as the economy recovers there won’t be a lot of pick up in performance. Prefers others. Good management.

2011-01-11

BUY

17.040

Significantly lowered distribution. Excellent Q3. He is getting close to changing his thesis on this one.

2010-11-17

HOLD

16.510

Apartments. Always has serious questions on whether they are doing the proper thing on renovations and keeping things up and always spends more than they earn. Not cheap so wouldn't be rushing into this one.

2010-09-01

TOP PICK

15.080

(Doesn't own but on his radar screen. Buy around $15.) Dividend of about 7%. Support is on the fairly steady diagonal line on the chart. If you own, use a Stop/Loss of the 200-day moving average.

2010-07-30

PAST TOP PICK

15.370

Charles Oliver, HBSc CFA

(A Top Pick Sept 9/09. Up 25.86%.)

2010-07-29

HOLD

14.890

Apartments that are concentrated in Ontario. Paying out just a little bit more than the distribution of the moment. Came out with much better numbers than the market had expected.

2010-05-17

WEAK BUY

14.590

Never owned a lot of it. Management turnover recently. Disclosure has improved since. Problem is capital expenditures. It’s a large number, but on a per unit basis it is comparable with their piers. It’s approaching fair value.

2010-01-19

SELL

14.380

Doesn't like this one. Prefers Boardwalk (BEI.UN-T) and Killam (KMP-T). Even though it has recovered from its lows, you are still dealing with the GTA and it's over supply of rental space. Also balance sheet concerns. (See Top Picks.)

2010-01-08

Comment

14.430

Robert Lauzon

A lot of apartment properties along the Toronto subway line and with low interest rates people were buying condos last year. Thinks this will slow when interest rates begin to move up in 5-6 months. There is a glut of rental units. Also have to spend CapX on the units. Cheap on a valuation standpoint. 7.5% yield.

2010-01-06

WEAK BUY

12.950

Michael Simpson, CFA

Starting to get interesting at these levels. Had a problem with underestimating amount needed on CapX for apartment restorations but are now addressing this. Have free cash flow payout at about 107%-108% but should be stable for the next 2 years.

2009-12-03

BUY

13.000

Prakash Hariharan

(Market Call Minute) Cap X has been the big overhang and they seem to be getting over it.

2009-12-01

TOP PICK

13.250

Charles Oliver, HBSc CFA

Uses as a pairs trade against Boardwalk (BEI.UN-T). Both came off a lot last year. Boardwalk has gone up 50%-75% while this one is up marginally. This is about 8% yield and Boardwalk is about 5%. Trading at 10X Funds From Operations while Boardwalk is about 13X-14X. Vast majority of their apartments are in Ontario.

2009-09-09

Comment

13.000

(Market Call Minute.) Over levered. Either a Hold or Sell.

2009-08-12

DON'T BUY

13.450

(Market Call Minute.) Not performing well because of concerns a lot of problems in the Toronto market.

2009-06-25

BUY

13.490

Michael Decter

Canadian Apartment Properties (CAR.UN-T) and/or Boardwalk REITs (BEI.UN-T)? Thinks you get the same valuation in REITs as you would in the property market with a lot less work. He would buy either one of these or both.

2009-06-15

Comment

13.110

Not a REIT for tax purposes because they recently purchased high-end manufactured home communities, which does not qualify as passive investments. (Wouldn't worry because of this.) Tremendous asset/debt ratio with CMHC financing. Not sure they will be able to grow free cash flow.

2009-06-03

DON'T BUY

12.260

A big part of the portfolio is in Toronto where they rent controls. They have a lot of capital expenditures to do. Fairly high yield. Like the management. You are better off to go elsewhere.

2009-04-29

BUY

12.500

Ben Cheng

(Market Call Minute) Good steady eddy way to go.

2009-04-27

DON'T BUY

12.350

Question about status of REIT so possibility of having to change into a corporation.

2009-04-14

HOLD

15.210

Apartments, condos, etc. in Ontario. This one has had more diversity of opinions by people who know the business well. He thinks they're okay. They have been buying back stock. Apartments are long-term big winners overall. 7% yield.

2008-02-14

HOLD

15.580

Gail Mifsud

Their concentration in Ontario has not served them well with the flight of Congo/apartment dwellers to home ownership.

2008-02-01

Comment

14.300

Large apartment buildings, mainly in Toronto and Montreal. Good management. Very cheap at these levels. Acquiring at a very large discount to NAV but will sell when it comes back. Treating it as a trade.

2008-01-14

DON'T BUY

16.030

Focused exclusively in the greater Toronto area. Vacancy rates, rent controls and condominium competition have created problems. Prefers Boardwalk (BEI.UN-T), which has 50% of their apartments in Alberta.

2007-12-28

BUY

16.900

Michele Robitaille

(Market Call Minute.) One of the most defensive names in the residential sector. The metrics in the Toronto market are starting to improve.

2007-11-28

Comment

19.390

A lot of their portfolios are in the greater Toronto area and are still dealing with vacancy rates that are too high so they can’t increase rental rates.

2007-10-03

BUY

17.540

Biggest exposure is to Montreal and Toronto. Starting to see a little bit of rental increase. Still spending $20 million to $40 million a year repositioning properties from a company they acquired a long time ago. In the long-term, this may be one you want to own because they assets are enduring and the locations are core.

2007-08-16

WEAK BUY

18.950

One of the bigger apartment complexes in REITs. Basically in Toronto with some holdings in Montreal. Very hard for Ontario apartments to keep their spreads. This one has held up its yield. Long-term, it's a good place to be. Concerned about Ontario economy.

2007-07-23

Comment

20.870

Multi-residential. Focused on high-rise properties. Primarily Toronto and Montreal. Ontario rent controls is a problem. Acquisition requires expensive upgrading to their standards. 1st class management team. Fundamentals in TO and Montreal are improving.

2007-04-03

TOP PICK

18.600

The apartment market in Toronto has been extremely soft. The major concern was whether they could keep their margins. Feels the apartment market is improving.

2007-01-12

WATCH

18.580

125% payout and has surprised him how well it has done. Lots of problems. Very likely at some point, it will break a bit, and when it does will be an interesting Buy. The whole “apartment concept” is a good one long-term.

2006-12-08

DON'T BUY

18.580

Gail Mifsud

Has a “Market Perform” on it. Have had to deal with a strong housing market that pulled people to home ownership. Has hurt occupancy rates. Year to date performance was better than she expected, however, she is expecting a decline in cash flow. Payout ratio is over 100%.

2006-12-08

WEAK BUY

19.140

Rob Callander

Some of the REITs he likes includes Riocan (REI.UN-T) and Canadian Apartment (CAR.UN-T). The problem is, they are well recognized, and are mature part of the trust market so the yields are fairly low. A lot of the easy money has been made.

2006-10-23

BUY

16.370

Leslie Lundquist

An apartment landlord. Likes this one. Good management.

2006-05-17

WEAK BUY

15.600

All of the dynamics of apartment markets have been getting better. This one had investor concerns because of an expensive acquisition a few years ago, but they are working their way through that. This has an older portfolio, so there is a question if they are doing enough at the moment to keep their buildings in good shape.

2005-12-16

WATCH

14.650

A very interesting story. Good yield. Have a lot of things working for them. Occupancy rate has gone up to 98%. There is some concern that they haven't been doing enough capital expenditures and have had to give up quite a bit of income to get the occupancy. Apartment scene in Toronto looks good.

2005-10-31

BUY

14.900

Gail Mifsud

Relatively undervalued versus the commercial REIT's.

2005-01-21

TOP PICK

13.950